A RENOVATED Pantcelyn Halls would be a “substantial marketing tool” to attract students to Aberystwyth University after years of tumbling numbers, a report has said.

The future of the building, the subject of several attempts to close it due to financial pressures and the cost of renovation, was made the subject of an independent report by consultants Old Bell 3 as the university decides on its future use.

The report found that Aberystwyth University “should market the Welsh accommodation provision proudly and confidently and regard it as a substantial marketing tool when seeking to recruit students.”

Consultants, who presented the report to the Pantcelyn Project Board set up in the wake of strong protests over a threatened closure last year, said that a survey conducted for the report showed the “strength of feeling not only within Aberystwyth University, but further afield, by former students and the Welsh-speaking community in Wales” for keeping Pantycelyn open.

“Another message which became evident during the research was that Pantycelyn is considered to be more than a building and

that the university should regard it as a valuable asset which has contributed greatly to Aberystwyth’s success in the past,” the report adds.

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